Quote 25
"Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed." (4.8)
OK – if Lord Henry thinks that men and women are never happy married, what then is the best and most fulfilling state of companionship? He doesn't offer us any answer.
Quote 26
"My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals." (4.9)
Lord Henry's derogatory, condescending view of women is a theme that lingers through the entire book. Women seem simply not to interest him at all, and even when they're his equals (like Gladys), he tires of them immediately.
Quote 27
"[…] And now tell me -- reach me the matches, like a good boy -- thanks -- what are your actual relations with Sibyl Vane?"
Dorian Gray leaped to his feet, with flushed cheeks and burning eyes. "Harry! Sibyl Vane is sacred!"
"It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian," said Lord Henry, with a strange touch of pathos in his voice. "But why should you be annoyed? I suppose she will belong to you some day. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance." (4.10-11)
Trust Lord Henry to bring Dorian's idealistic talk about love back to the physical heart of the matter – sex. Henry's cynicism about love seems to boil down to the rather tragic idea that we're all deluding our selves with fancy, poetic emotions; "sacred" love can be reduced, in his view, to physical passion.